Well this Sucks
by dreamwithinadream262
Summary: Highschool AU- House fires, antisocial cousins, and highschool, oh my! I love my cousins, but living with them, helll no. Stupid housefire, stupid highschool. Why me? It also doesn't help that one of them is part of some weird club called "Akatsuki". Well, this sucks...
1. Houseparties and sleep deprivation?

**New story time eh? **

**I'm quite obsessed with reading Naruto AU's so I thought, "why not write my own"**

**There's no actual certainty that I'll update this story, just an idea, but if you guys like it I'll write more. And I haven't abandoned _Death, Universe Traveling, and the Host Club? _Just thinking of new ideas.**

**I hope you enjoy**

**disclaimer I do not own any of the characters made by Masashi Kishimoto's amazing imagination.**

* * *

The gentle summer breeze rustled through the trees in Konoha as a new day started, at the crack of dawn. The slow ascent of the sun quickly set the pace of the morning, each creature and human awakening to start the tasks awaiting them. Birds sang their gleeful melodies, much to the annoyance of light sleepers who wished to catch a few more hours of rest, and would happily shut the birds up with violent methods if possible. Working men and women begrudgingly turned off their alarms to make a hasty journey towards their workplaces, and the occasionally teenager had just fallen asleep after hours of solitude, with the companion of the soft hum of a computers fan, and the luminescence of a monitor. It was a peaceful day.

NOT.

Somewhere in Konoha, a teenage girl kicked the sheets off her bed into oblivion as the sun had started to rise. A mess of tangled black hair, flannel shorts with a tank top, and the eyes of a demon emitted the aura of Satan himself. She lay in her bed, head lolled limply to the side, strewn across the mattress in a various position, aimlessly, as sunlight started to pour into the room.

Her right eye twitched as her intense glare shifted to the ground beneath her. It had been ten days since she had gotten an adequate amount of rest, and today her amount of irritation was exceeding legal limits. The not-so-quiet music from the apartment beneath her was vibrating throughout the walls, resonating in her ears. Her right eye twitched again. It was the 50th time she had heard this song, and yes, she was counting.

Hands found way to her ears quickly to block out the pestering music. But to no avail she could still clearly hear the lyrics through her clasped hands. It was worse than torture. If anything, the girl wished that she were in school, instead of suffering through this hell all day. Many times she had contemplated banging her head against the wall to knock herself unconscious to escape the endless choruses of terrible pop songs.

_Somebody just kill me already _she thought. A chorus of sighs and groans emitted from her mouth as she tossed around her bed to another uncomfortable position. The landlords to the apartment complex had left their apartments in the care of their College children, as the elderly couple took a vacation to Europe. Since that unfortunate day, the apartment complex was objectified to countless abuse from loud music, and the many drunk College, and underage high school students that roamed the building like zombies in their drunken stupor. Every night, more and more people flocked to the apartments for free alcohol, partying throughout the entire week. It might've been a paradise to them, but for Aiko Uchiha, is was hell on earth.

At first, it had amused Aiko, watching the many stupid actions of the drunken teenagers and adults. She'd witnessed the most outrageous stunts and failures, such as the time when one guy lit his pants on fire, watching from her window, and the first time a bra fell through her window it was hilarious. But it had gotten old, and fast. It was only a matter of time before she lost her mind.

The song continued.

THe cliche pop lyrics rung in her ears, lashing against her skull. She could feel herself losing braincells with each second passing.

"I'm so done" Aiko hissed vehemently, pure fury laced into each word. She felt like punching a wall. "If I hear that chorus one more fucking time I'm going to..." It only took five more seconds for her anger to unleash.

"THAT'S IT!"Aiko yelled in a battle cry, her fist raised in the air. "WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU EVIL VERMON, YOU WON'T HAVE ARMS TO TAKE A SELFIE WITH!"

Three steps towards the door until…

"SHUT UP, IT'S ONLY 6 A.M!" an angry voice hissed back.

She flopped back down on her bed and suppressed a scream.

* * *

_**~oOo~**_

* * *

"This sucks" I groaned, my head down on the kitchen table. This was the start of the eleventh morning of sleep deprivation in the Uchiha household, and patience had worn down to but a single thread in everyone's mind. I rubbed my temples, attempting to soothe my seemingly perpetual headache. Maybe I could get rid of this film of "rage" out of my corneas. It's as if everywhere I looked I were the character in a first person shooter game. Every object had "target sighted" written all over it for me to potentially destroy.

My mother sat across from me, a bright yellow mug of coffee in her hands. Her usual air of sophisticated, but simple elegance was replaced by wariness and agitation. Her black hair, normally pulled into a neat bun, cascaded down her back in a tangled mess. I would've laughed, the way the bright mug seemed like a contradiction to the foul mood that settled in the room. A single provocation could evoke chaos. Hell, if I could, I'd metaphorically cut the tension with a knife.

My mother slowly turned towards me under heavily lidded eyes.

"Don't worry Aiko, your father and I are working hard to solve this…predicament. Have you contacted the landlords yet?" My mother asked through gritted teeth, glaring through tired eyes at my father. I could've sworn my mother looked like she was about to murder somebody right then and there. But then again, we were Uchiha's, intimidation was our thing.

He apathetically glanced back over, barley taking his eyes of the newspaper he was reading.

"Hn" was all he answered.

Wrong answer dad.

"Hn" The famous Uchiha trademark phrase for everything. My mouth curved into a smile as I scoffed at the "word". As an Uchiha I had become all too familiar with that small phrase, mostly coming from my antisocial cousins. Even I used it, and I loathed that phrase with my entire being. It could mean anything from "yes" or "no" to "I want strawberries with that" or "I watch you when you sleep". You'd never know. It was so overused, like the pop music coming from downstairs, which made it very, very, very irritating.

My mother stared at him awhile longer, narrowing her eyes. With one brow raised, she waited for a more suitable reply.

I could see my dad starting to sweat under her gaze. At first it was a small twitch, but then, noticing all attention was focused unto him, he set his newspaper down on the table, glancing over carefully, and swallowed.

"No, not yet dear." he lazily drawled. "If anything, we won't be able to contact them until the remainder of their trip is over." My head slipped from my hands and hit the table with a painful, loud thud.

Ah did you hear that? It was the sound of my hope violently ripping its way out of my chest, fluttering away, trailing my blood after it. Just keep that vicious image in your head, okay?

The sound of exasperated sighs simultaneously escaping everyone's mouth wasn't healthy.

Mother sighed once again. Placing her head above two folded hands, she spoke.

"So, what do you suppose we do, to rid ourselves of this…uh…," She paused for a second, contemplating her next words, "…unpleasant situation?"

My father set down his newspaper for good this time, brows furrowed, thinking of a solution. I racked my brain for any valuable ideas as well. Thinking hard, my brain searched through the extensive files of information it held, analyzing it all. Finally sorting out my crazy thoughts, I came to a plausible way out to this madness.

Standing up on my chair, I optimistically (sarcastically) proposed my plan.

"Now children gather round", I pointed towards my parents, who had expectant, somewhat baffled expressions on their faces. "This is a SUPER DUPER important announcement, so keep your ears peeled! Avast me hearties, it's been eleven days since those wretched vermin have infiltrated our territory, and now it is time to take back-

"Get on with it" My father stated.

I glared back at him. He gestured his hands in a "go on" motion.

"As I was saying, before I was," I stared my father down, "Rudely interrupted, it's time to take back what's rightfully ours, and restore peace to our land! We'll cause a mutiny in their ranks, and pillage their land as we please! Their blood will soak the sands and cleanse our nation!"

Both my parents had their heads in their hands, face palming in annoyance. My mother was the first to reply.

"Aiko, as much as I'd like to, murder is not an option. I doubt pirates would ever try to restore peace, and please get off that chair before you break it."

Was that a fat joke?

"Quiet, wench! Don't doubt the plans of your captain!"

She looked offended and surprised.

"Wench?! Excuse me?!"

"…"

"You should kiss the gunner's daughter for that statement landlubber!"

"Kiss the daughters, what?"

"…"

"-Ah but I'll forgive you wench. So long as when we're done soaking the sand with blood, grub is on the way!"

"Hn"

I probably don't need to mention the identity who spoke that syllable do I?

After I was done with my rant, I looked over to my parents, a wide set grin on my face. There's nothing more energizing and refreshing as sarcastic murderous thoughts in the morning. It does wonders for the black at heart. Kind of like coffee…for the sadistic?

"…So as I was saying, a real solution to this", Mother pointed to the ground below us, the floor vibrating with the music, "problem."

"Murder?" I enquired once again.

"Besides murder."

Oh, you Debbie downer you.

Another uncomfortable "silence" passed through the room.

"Ah, then I got nothing…" I dejectedly sat back down in my chair. I was actually serious about the murder too…I've watched enough Law and Order to commit a successful murder. All we need were no witnesses, bleach, gasoline…matches, knives…

"Anybody else?"

"We could always shack up in a hotel," I mumbled quietly, looking down at the wrinkles in my clothes. I really needed to wash the laundry. But that meant venturing downstairs, to where **they** were. I'd already gotten hit on by multiple drunken men and even some women the few times I left the apartment to complete any task. There were a few crazies down there too, and as far as I knew, bumping into another egotistical ass who thought it was okay to push women around for their own purposes was not on my agenda. Sometimes, giving them the cold shoulder didn't even keep them away. It was dangerous.

The last time I dared to step foot outside the apartment an intoxicated jackass tried to make a pass at me. I quickly shot him down, refusing the alcohol he'd offered me, or the other invitation he'd extended out to me. I think you understand what his intentions were. Being sixteen, I didn't have any desire to engage in any illegal activities with that guy. Anyways, he didn't like my answer, and he got a bit, physical. I had to call up a friend to come by and kick that guys ass for me, while I was hiding in the storage units underground. And I'll tell you, it's not exactly the most entertaining pastime to sit in a cramped position as you can hear multiple couples come into the room to do whatever they wanted.

If you catch my drift.

Yeah, not fun whatsoever.

At least my father didn't hear about it. Heaven forbid he did, or I'd never be able to step one foot outside the house ever again.

A loud bang was heard from downstairs.

"I still suggest murder."

"Then it's settled!" Jolting suddenly, which caused me to fall off my chair with a loud thump, I was startled by the sudden sound of my mother's voice shouting right next to me. Man, that woman has a voice.

"Damn, give a girl a warning, would you?!" I hissed, rubbing my now aching head.

My mother shot me a warning glance.

"Cursing isn't befitting of a lady." She sternly stated. I scoffed, and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Typical Uchiha standards…

"Get ready, we'll be leaving in a half hour!"

"Huh?" I stopped rubbing my head, making a confused expression at my mother. Going where, exactly? She was already swiftly walking around, clearly heading towards the bathroom where she'd transform herself to look socially acceptable.

Turning around to see my confused form, she resumed an irritated expression, a frown pulling at her lips. Placing her hand on her hips, she resumed the cliché "angry mom" position.

"Were you even listening?!" She exclaimed.

Deadpanning, I gave her a blank stare. "uhhh…no?"

"Ugh, ask your dad." She scoffed.

Rolling her eyes, she turned around and entered the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. A few seconds later the click of the lock was heard.

I didn't even get an answer. Thoroughly confused, I shifted my gaze towards my gaze towards my father, who was watching the bathroom door in amusement. Noticing my lingering gaze, his attention quickly focused on my. I expectantly waited for my answer. Clearing his throat he started.

"Uncle Fugaku's. Thirty minutes."

Well shit.

I promptly flopped on the floor in despair. One hand in my knotted hair I sighed defeated.

"This is going to be a long day…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hn"

"..."

Wait, was that a chuckle?

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

**_Review please?_**

**_-dreamwithinadream262_**


	2. Cousins and Fire?

**Hey I'm back! Hops you enjoyed chapter one. I've officially decided to write this in 3rd person point of view because usually I am terrible at it.**

**I dreamwithinadream262 do not own Naruto. I only take responsibility for my Oc's and plot.**

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

After a long, excruciating car ride, full of groans, arguments, and annoying cliché games, most initiated by her mother, Aiko found herself worn out even more than she'd been when she'd left the house. It shouldn't have been possible, but as she slouched in an uncomfortable curled up position, thanks to her father leaning his chair ALL the way back, Aiko felt mentally, and emotionally drained. Throughout the supposedly "short" amount of time it would've taken her family to venture the distance between her and her cousins houses, they had managed to get lost multiple times, despite living in the area for the amount of time they had. Her mother also managed to nearly crash the car on numerous occasions whether it had been not stopping at streetlights and stop signs, just about running over the various wild animals that "suddenly" found themselves in the path of the rogue driver. Stopping short every few minutes hadn't done good for Aiko's increasingly

impounding headache, and she could vaguely hypothesize she was experiencing a minor case of whiplash.

She blamed it on their sleep deprivation.

Aiko haphazardly through the top of her hoodie over her face, covering her eyes. It was much too bright for her liking, for her raccoon eyes had become accustomed to a schedule that lurked in the night, and avoided the day. She'd basically turned nocturnal. Initially upon entering the car, Aiko's intentions were to catch up on the sleep she'd missed, even if it meant simply obtaining thirty minutes of rest. Forgot how bad mom was at driving…_shit_. She sardonically thought.

"Are we there yet…?" Aiko hissed as the car lurched forward, and stopped sharply again. The temptation to leave the car, also known as, the "metal death-trap" had become increasingly stronger. Anything to get away from this not-so-legal driving. There was an eminent fear that not even a seatbelt, or any type of harness or cushioning could protect her from her mother's driving. Hell, it wouldn't protect anyone. That's how bad it was.

"Don't worry dear, we're just about…uh….five minutes away…yeah." Her mother lamented slowly. Somehow, those words only proved to seem less…comforting. Aiko didn't know whether to be more scared of the fact that this five minutes most likely meant thirty, or that she felt the car was slowly swerving into the other lane.

"Hn"

Aiko looked from out her hood to see they were passing the gas station, yet again.

"Didn't we pass that gas station five minutes ago..?" She groaned. The same tires in the same pattern. The same advertisements and creepy guy loitering around the shop trying to get people to sign his petition. Yeah, they'd definitely passed this place at least several times.

"Hn"

Her mother perked up, and she jolted upwards in her seat, attaining a better posture. To Aiko it looked like she'd startled her mother. She really wished that not to be the case.

"Please don't tell me you were falling asleep…." Aiko questioned somewhat frightened.

She didn't receive an answer.

A few tense seconds passed. Obviously that silence meant yes.

Needless to say, it was a miracle they didn't all die at the hands of her mother's irresponsible driving.

Finally arriving at the Uchiha Estate, after an hour of pure torture, A.K.A reckless driving, Aiko found herself ready to kiss the ground and praise the lord for the miracle of nearly escaping death. Even her father hadn't come out of the car unscathed. His habit of rolling down his window didn't pay off, for his usually neat, combed back hair without any strand of hair out of place…looked like he'd gotten a perm and then walked through a hurricane. With his type A personality, and Obsessive compulsive disorder, he was going to flip once he looked into a mirror. Aiko shuddered at the thought. Her father had an unhealthy obsession with his hair, making sure to take every precaution and maintenance, in fear of going bald. The only time she'd every seen her father exhibit any type of emotion, was when he became horrified when her mother told him that wearing hats for a prolonged amount of time would make him bald faster. Needless to say, he'd refused to  
wear a hat after that.

Aiko shot a terrified glance over to her mother, which was returned with a weary smile, and a nervous chuckle.

Oh, no. She thought.

Looking up, she was met with the ever so familiar sights of the Uchiha Estate.

Perfectly manicured lawn, each blade of grass precisely measured to be the same length and color, and the abundant plants arranged accurately, in size, species, and color to accent the houses with the best accuracy. With the keen minute details centered around the landscaping alone, Aiko believed her father's obsession and pride with his hair, couldn't compare to the amount of consideration and thought put to the exterior of the home itself. Perfectly straight, gleaming roof tiles, and the always fresh paint that coated the outside she was sure the typical stereotype about all her family members being so detail oriented was proven true.

Aiko smiled in spite of herself.

Damn she hated the place.

Of course, Aiko did appreciate the time and effort put into making the building so…perfect. But in that fact, the whole house was too perfect for her liking. Aiko was convinced ever since a young age that nothing was perfect, no matter how it may seem or looked, so she tried finding flaws in everything, because that was normal…wasn't it? However, this house had stumped her in all aspects, and even with all her years of trying, she couldn't find a single visible flaw. Even when she was younger, she pranced round the whole estate with a magnifying glass, looking like a pint-sized Sherlock Holmes. But to no avail, Aiko couldn't find a single crack in the concrete, fault in the molding, or weed in the gardens.

Simply, this amount of perfection creeped her out.

"Come on Aiko, hurry up!" The irritated voice of her mother called, snapping her out of her nostalgic was already at the top of the steps with her father, looking inpatient as she waited for her daughter to follow in suit.

Aiko sluggishly walked up the stairs, watching her parents backs get smaller and smaller.

"Should've brought some music"… Aiko muttered, now thinking about the amount of mindless grown-up talk she would have to sit through.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

Aiko was used to family gatherings, and anticipated the silence she'd grown accustomed to, with the solemn and stoic dispositions of her fellow relatives…but that didn't mean she enjoyed it.

Her Aunt Mikoto was one of the exceptions to this, usually engaging in speech much more than Uncle Fugaku, Itachi and Sasuke. She greeted everyone with a smile, and took note of the exhausted expressions on their faces. Mikoto mirrored a look of concern. Yeah, she was a very kind-hearted person. That's one reason Aiko was fond of her aunt.

_Mus__t be where __Itachi gets it from_… Aiko thought, regarding her older, stoic cousin. She smirked at the thought. _Wonder what Weasel-Kun is going to do __when he sees I'm here._

"You poor things." She started. "Come inside, you must be drained!"

"You don't even know half of it." Her mother lamented, taking the first step inside.

"Hn"

Mikoto took a second to look at the older mans somewhat frazzled appearance, and stifled a laugh. Even she knew about the mans finicky obsessive tendencies.

Upon entering the thresh hold of the home, almost automatically, everyone took off their shoes in unison.

Wearing Converse might not have been the best idea… Aiko though begrudgingly as she struggled to undo her laces. This put her a few steps behind everyone else.

_Stupid family customs_

"So," Mikoto asked, "How have been lately?"

"I'll tell you all about it..." Aiko's mother and Mikoto went in the direction of the kitchen, most likely to discuss womanly things, like purses and kids and all that jazz.

Well that was fast.

And the abandonment starts.

Aiko looked at her dad expecting him to at least wait up for her. He raised an eyebrow at her almost teasingly as if saying "You though I was going to wait for you, didn't you?" and walked off to some random direction, most likely to find Uncle Fugaku. Knowing them, they'd sit around a fire smoking cigars and discussing stocks.

Boring…

Aiko's shoulder's sagged in defeat as she noticed she was completely alone.

Thanks, everyone…Feeling the love here…

Sighing rather loudly, she straightened her back, and walked off around a corridor.

"Looks like it's time to annoy Sasuke."

Aiko smiled sadistically.

That was always fun.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

Walking around aimlessly, passing the same hallway for the fifth time, Aiko groaned in disappointment. It seems she wasn't the only one to inherit the gene that disabled her a sense of direction. No matter how many times she had visited the estate, no matter how many times she had been there as a child exploring…the layout of the building eluded her mind. It should've been easy, at first Aiko was confident in her navigational abilities, but after a short time passed she was beat. She wasn't to slam her head into a wall. Maybe it would leave a dent in the ever pristine walls.. Aiko liked the sound of that.

The temptation to actually commit the actions in which she had thought was overwhelming. Yeah, she definitely needed sleep of else she was going to seriously hurt herself without thinking it through thoroughly. She almost snickered when the thought of the copious amount of blood that would flow out of her skull if she happened to bang her head into the wall hard enough.

"Okay I need to stop…" Aiko thought with a weirded out expression on her face. Psychotic thoughts were bad…yes…very bad…

"murrrrddderrrrrrrr" she screamed whispered, as she ventured through the hallway. Then suddenly stopping she slapped her hands unto her cheeks. She. Needed. To. Stop.

But the cream-colored walls were just taunting her, just inviting her to do something. But then again, Aiko just remember what an incredibly last person she was, and decided that physically hurting herself to stain the walls was a waste of her precious eternal resources, and way too much effort. Because this is what normal people think about…

Again, she blamed it on the sleep deprivation.

Deciding to abandon her search, Aiko simply stopped exactly where she was standing, and sat (more like collapsed) on the ground. The quest to annoy Sasuke could wait for later. She lay in the middle of the corridor floor, like nothing else was important. Stuffing a hand into her pocket, she fished out her phone, and brushed off any dust on the glass.

"Good thing I didn't have any gum in there like last time" she mumbled. Recalling that fateful day of misfortune, Aiko shuddered. It should have been obvious before, but peeling melted remains of gum off the cover of a phone, was not a fun experience.

Aiko checked her phone for wi-fi, hoping she could at least drown her complete boredom in some mindless activity that would slowly kill her brain cells. Her eyes lit up as she spotted the name Uchiha on the list of networks. If there was one way to make her up, mindless dawdling on the force that made her social life non-existent was the way to go.

Eagerly grinning, she clicked on the network, anticipating for the wi-fi to connect.

She waited.

Connecting…

Connecting…

Connecting….

_Please enter the password_

This time Aiko didn't hesitate to cause damage, and threw her phone against the wall.

Thankfully, she didn't hear anything shatter.

"Dobe, what're you during?" A low gruff voice asked in an amused tone.

"Just uh, taking a siesta, you know the works."

"In the middle of the hallway?"

"I wanted to spice things up…"

"Hn"

Before she knew it, Aiko's vision was clouded as the new occupant of the space walked over her. From her position on the floor, she could tell Sasuke still had his ridiculously styled hair, and also retained his affinity for wearing the color blue. She also noted that her cousin had grown a little taller, and his voice had gotten deeper since she'd last seen him.

"You know, walking over people can be considered rude?"

"So is laying in the middle of a person's floor teme." He replied sarcastically.

Eh, he had a point.

Aiko rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest, still laying on her back.

"Why aren't you as charming as always Casanova?"

Sasuke smiled slyly. "Anything for my dearest cousin." He dropped his smile "And don't call me Casanova."

Dearest cousin her ass.

Damn, she actually forgot how she missed this banter.

"Whatever, you say Casanova. How're those fan girls of yours…hmm?"

Sasuke's face instantly turned from amusement, to horror. Dear lord, Aiko thought, I wonder how many yandere stalkers he has this year? Was it really that bad?

"I drop the dearest part, dinner's in ten minutes, dobe." Sasuke retained his normal solemn expression this time.

What, no cliché reunion for us two cousins? Aiko thought. But as soon as that thought entered her head it was cancelled out.

Oh right...Uchiha's don't do expressions of emotions.

Aiko stood up and brushed whatever non-existent dirt on her, off. Then she skipped over to Sasuke's side.

"But you love me anyways, right Sasu-chan?"

He glanced back at her, not even turning his face in her direction. He really didn't like that pet-name. He'd hoped she had forgotten about it, but that wasn't the case.

"…Hn…"

"Ah, don't give me the one-syllable treatment!"  
"…Hn…"

"I guess I'll just ignore you too then…"

Sasuke simply smiled at her childishness. Even though he hadn't seen her in a long time, she was relatively the same person. _Even more scatter brained than Naruto.._ He thought. A sudden epiphany occurred to him.

"You got lost didn't you.." Sasuke questioned, looking down at her.

"..Hn..?" Aiko replied, with a nervous chuckle, a sheepish smile on her face. She looked disgusted for a split second.

Yeah, He thought Still the same idiot as before. Aiko refused to use the phrase "hn" in any context when she spoke. It had become a nervous tic of hers to revert back to the phrase when faced with lying, or conflict.

Sasuke decided not to comment on it.

A few seconds passed of utter silence between the two teens. Sasuke was very comfortable with the silence, in fact he preferred it. It was all serene until…

"OH YEAH!" Aiko yelled, as she suddenly remembered something. Sasuke, startled at the sudden outburst, jolted in place, but played it off coolly. He waited for whatever it could be the girl wanted, which, knowing her, could be anything from sprouting simple facts she'd picked up watching the news, or a random comment regarding her favorite television show. Naturally on the outside, all Uchihas appeared to be stoic, but within the family, everybody knew the true nature of their relatives.

"WHAT'S YOUR WiFi PASSWORD?" Aiko continued. To her, this was a serious question.

Sasuke stared back at her bemused.

"Sharingan." He said.

Aiko cocked her head to the side. _What the hell is that supposed to mean? Sharingan? Sounds like a type of fish…wait…that's sashimi…_

"You're weird…" Aiko drawled.

"…Hn…"

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

"Murrrrrddddeeerrrrrrr..." The female Uchiha mumbled under her breath excitedly. Of course as soon as she became aware of what had just slipped off her younger she slapped herself in the face...again...  
Not being able to look behind her, Aiko couldn't see the confused expression Sasuke had at her statement.

Aiko, despite her obvious irritation earlier, had become quite content with the arrival of Sasuke. Even though the two young Uchiha's didn't voice or show their emotions, both had a strong fondness of one another. Naturally, with the amount of interaction they'd gotten with one another as children, both had a relationship much like siblings, thanks to the many business meetings their families attended which left them to themselves. Itachi, being the oldest, was usually left in charge to make sure the two youngsters didn't stir up any trouble, but because Itachi wasn't that much older at the time, chaos ensued. They were just experts and cleaning up their messes, a.k.a Itachi cleaning up for them, usually with a sheepish, endearing smile on his face.

If anything, Aiko was most excited to see Itachi again, as she missed the guy dearly. As much as she loved Sasuke, Itachi was the older brother she never had, and they had many things in common. She recalled all the times he let her braid his hair when they were younger. Frankly, she was jealous of his long, soft, hair, especially when she used to get confused for a boy as a child. However her hair now reached to her mid-back and she was proud of that. There were days as a child where the three Uchiha's would sit in a circle and braid each others hair. Of course they hadn't done that on years, and Aiko doubted Sasuke would ever let her touch his "perfectly styled" hair anymore.

To be honest, Aiko thought that Sasuke's hair resembled a ducks ass more than the models it seemed he was trying to imitate, if he were greatly into fashion that is.

Unfortunately, besides not being able to braid her cousins hair, Sasuke also didn't get along well with his older brother anymore. It was very taboo, because when they were younger, Sasuke had the largest older brother complex, wanting to be exactly like Itachi. Aiko recalled the almost endless call of "nii-chan!" But as Sasuke grew older, he became more introverted and detached, eventually harboring hostile feelings towards his older sibling.

Aiko had always just assumed Sasuke's hostility and reservation towards his older brother was caused by the pressures and expectations by their family. Throughout the history of Uchiha's there was great accomplishments, and to be average, was simply not acceptable. Even Aiko felt the immense pressure to succeed in her own home, but she was quite aware that her Uncle Fugaku held his children to higher expectations. With Itachi practically being a prodigy, it seemed Sasuke was always one step behind, never quite adequate. This was the cause of the strain on the brothers relationship, but Aiko was positive somewhere in his small tiny Grinch heart, Sasuke still cared for Itachi, even if he wasn't aware of it himself.

Certainly, Itachi still cared for his younger brother.

Aiko was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts as her body collided with a hard surface, and before you make any assumptions, no, it wasn't an attractive male.

It was a door.

Which just happened to force open under the young Uchiha's weight.

As the door swung open Aiko mentally cringed, a look of horror, utter dismay on her face.

The door hit the wall with a large BOOM that resounded off the walls and echoed loudly.

All heads of Mikoto, Fugaku, Her parents, and surprisingly Itachi stared to look at her with wide eyes and confused expressions. Mikoto had a hand over her heart as if she were about to collapse

Behind her, Sasuke didn't even flinch.

"I uh- meant to do that...hn..." Akio stuttered out embarrassed. she felt the familiar sensation of blood rushing to her cheeks

_Why to make yourself a fool in front of your family..._

_Idiot_

_Idiot_

_Idiot_

she mentally scolded herself.

"it's nice of you to join us." Mikoto said, once recovered.

"Nice going dobe." Aiko heard Sasuke mutter behind her

Cocky bastard.

"shut up." she hissed.

"hn." he grunted.

Turning her attention back to her startled family, they had gone back to what they were doing before, now talking amongst themselves. The men were seated on the couch, talking in hushed voices, most likely about politics and whatnot. The women who had been previously preparing the food were now finishing up the dinner, animatedly conversing about what had been happening in the family. Aiko vaguely heard a mention of Shisui winning his first court case. Itachi sat alone, reading a book.

Aiko, once gotten over her embarrassment, smiled faintly, and started to approach Itachi. Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked over to the other side of the room, pulling out his phone, most likely to reply to the hundreds of emoticon filled texts he would've received from Naruto.

Looking up from his book, Itachi returned a smile, opening up the spot beside him so Aiko could sit beside him.

"How are you today Aiko-chan?" Itachi said politely, a hint of amusement in his tone.

Aiko almost rolled her eyes at her more reserved cousins' automatic politeness.

"You know, the same old, same old. Sasgay-... I mean Sasuke is being himself. Quite rude if you ask me, and I'm great, because I'm always great."

"Ah, you sure? That entrance was certainly...exciting." The older Uchiha commented sarcastically. Ah this was the Itachi she knew. Reserved, refined, sarcastic Itachi.

"You really think so? I was thinking that element of surprise would be most befitting...maybe I should've added some fireworks to my intro. Explosions make everything better.."

Itachi's eye twitched slightly. That statement, even if jokingly, reminded him of a certain pyromaniac blonde.

"...you know I could also go with confetti. Confetti gets all the bitches impressed...

Er...Itachi? You okay? It looks like you've just found out you were a character in a crappy fanfiction or whatnot..."

Itachi recovered his natural expression, dismissing the thoughts of his less functional, mentally challenged acquaintances, or loosely speaking "friends"

"it's nothing, you just reminded me of someone."

"Oh...hn...good..?"

"...hn..." Itachi finished, looking amused and somewhat miffed. Warily he glanced over to his younger brother who was wearing his signature death glare, as he rapidly typed a message on his phone. One could only assume Naruto had sent.

"Dobe..." Sasuke sighed for the hundredth time, turning his phone off, unable to respond to the tidal wave of messages his phone was receiving in such a short amount of time. Itachi had been correct, Naruto had in fact texted Sasuke 100 pictures of ramen, listing the pros and cons of each brand and flavor. How was Sasuke supposed to know what flavor to choose? Sometimes he wondered why he was friends with the blonde haired, spastic idiot...

Even Itachi wondered how the two friends, who were polar opposites managed to get along so well, or at least not kill each other...

Each teenager was left to their pondering of thoughts.

Suddenly everybody heard the words that were music to their ears.

"Dinner's ready!" Mikoto and Aiko's mother chorused, holding their spatulas out valiantly as if they were swords. You could practically smell the happiness and holy item called food that was waiting for all of them to consume.

If you ever thought Uchiha's were all reserved people, you've never witnessed how fast each family member made it to the table.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

Dinner was normal for the most part, the only sounds being the constant buzz of Sasuke's phone, and the occasional clanging noise of forks and knives making contact with the ceramic dishes. Eventually Sasuke had to turn his phone back on. He claimed if he left it off too long, the amount of text messages that'd be incoming would be too many, and would crash his phone.

_That really hit the spot._.. Aiko thought contentedly, now rubbing her full stomach. She'd never get tired of Mikotos home made cooking. Now all she needed was a full nights rest without interruption, and a hot shower and she'd be fully refreshed.

Aiko dreaded the thought of going home.

Her mother had left the table to take an apparent "important phone call." Aiko wondered what that meant. Maybe it was the landlords, maybe they'd finally get their peace back. She hoped that was the case.

Moments later, Aiko's mother returned, a solemn expression on her face.

_Wonder what that's about_...? Aiko thought, now curious to what was happening.

It was painfully quiet as the men now noticing the solemn expression on the women's face ended their dicussion. Everybody waited in anticaipation to hear whatever bad news was going to ensue.

"There was a fire..." Her mother simply stated, not going into further detail.

It took a few seconds for those words to register in Aiko's mind.

_Fire?_

**_¿Fire?_**

_**...Fire?**_

_**HN?!**_

Then it clicked.

"WAIT, WHAT ABOUT MY LAPTOP?!"

"hn..."

* * *

**Hehehehehehehe that is the END OF CHAPTER NUMBER TWO**

**I'm having a lot of fun writing this. WOOT.**

**Expect updates soon.**

**Next chapter has the Suna Siblings...heh**

**Review? Constructive Criticism?**

**~dreamwithinadream262**


	3. Fire-fighters, hotels, and siblings?

**Hello there readers. If you aren't already aware this is chapter 3 of Well this Sucks. Have fun reading my subpar writing of the chronicles of the non-existent events that correlate in my mind.**

**Too many Naruto feels.**

**I dreamwithinadream262 do not own Naruto. If I did I'd probably cry**

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN STRUCTURALLY UNSOUND?" A certain black-haired, sleep deprived teenage girl cried in exasperation. She didn't care if she had been yelling, or if the whole world could hear her, no, she was frustrated, and mad.

The shocked and frightened man in front of her blinked in astonishment. He was one head taller than her, but the short teenage girl had emitted a terrifyingly intimidating aura as she stood unwavering, and obviously livid. With the dark bags under her eyes and knots in her long black hair, she didn't only sound like a demon, but greatly resembled one. She was unleashing the true nature of an angry Uchiha.

The man took a step back automatically, Extending his arms in trepidation as if he were anticipating he would become the target of the teenagers agitation and fury. He cleared his throat, regaining his stance, and cautiously thought about his next words. His pride was at stake, he couldn't let some teenage girl challenge his pride as a man.

"Sorry girl," He paused as the young girl seemed to become more irritated, "chief said no one allowed past this point." he squeaked out the last part, a nervous smile perched on his lips as his eye twitched.

Aiko sighed in frustration. Somewhere in her mind, she felt a bit bad about venting her anger on the random firefighter, but she was seriously not in the best of moods. Sighing dejectedly she ran a hand through her hair. Maybe another tactic would work. Groaning she put out an air of innocence and looked back up at the man.

"Are you sure I can't go in?" Aiko said sadly.

The young man in front of her before, scared, now was extremely confused at the girls behavior. If anything, this behavior freaked him out more. Sure he was used to constant hostility and getting yelled at, mostly attributed to his best friend Kotetsu, but he was at a lost when dealing with emotional girls...

Speaking of the said idiot best friend.

"IZUMO, CHEIF SAID HE'S TREATING ME TO SYRUP. ISNT THAT AWESO- woah, are you alright there?" An optimistic young man yelled. Izumo sighed at his best friends obliviousness. Of course he would be thinking about food after a three alarm fire. Izumo was sure his friends occupation as a fireman was redundant. He'd most likely be the individual to start a fire, and run around frantically until he passed out.

Aikos attention quickly shifted to the entrance of the other man. He seemed quiet jovial, and weirdly there was a cloth that went over his nose. With his optimism in these circumstances she concluded he was an idiot. At least now she knew the name of the man in front of her.

"Uh, yeah, fine." Izumo sighed. Now he'd have to deal with this idiot..."she just uh," he pointed towards Aiko "Use to live here."

Kotetsu perked up "Ne, it's a shame," He paused, staring at the apartment building with an analyzing stare. Charred right side of the first floor, and patterns of spiraling smoke trails where the flames once licked the walls. Kotetsu continued.

"Good thing nobody was hurt though. Who knew alcohol was so flammable? I feel bad for those college kids, that party was a bust."

A tick mark appeared on Aiko's head. He was concerned about the immature, good for nothing drunk college kids? It was her home that was halfway charred for kami's sake!

Or kami's sakē, if this were an ironic alcohol joke.

The more mature observative young man noticed the young girls sudden spike in anger and flinched back, now even more scared than before. Unfortunately his less perceptive best friend didn't notice the expression on her face. He stared at him with an alarmed expression, trying to tell Kotetsu to stop, but he continued.

"Haha this was ALARMING right? Such a shame. They could've at least put this fire to use and roasted some marshmallows." Kotetsu's face lit up as if he just came to an exciting discovery. He nudged the scared man beside him. "Ne Izumo, I have some weenies in the truck, think we can get some authentic "hickory smoked" flavor out of it?!"

Izumo wanted to slap his friend, but he was afraid that if he did just that, his friend would lose even more of the very few brain cells he possessed. He needed those. Instead, he nudged him in the shoulder, hard, gaining Kotetsu's attention.

"Ow!" Kotetsu cried in pain, his voice cracking like a prepubescent boy. "What was that for?!"

Izumo stared at his friend, his lips in a thin line, eyes bugging out of his skull trying to convey the message to his friend that he was not helping in this situation. Damn he was an idiot.

Kotetsu just stared at his friend and grimaced, looking equally weirded out. "Er, Izumo, you alright? You look a little constipated there..." He trailed off, eyebrows raised.

Izumo wanted to facepalm. Only Kotetsu...only Kotetsu...

Aiko blinked, processing the scene in front of her. They were like a comedy act, the two men, and it seemed wherever they went chaos ensued. Her anger subsided as she watched the two men in amusement and curiosity. This was a totally different situation than what'd first started. She blankly watched their bickering. "Izumo" if she remembered his name correctly, threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Kotetsu" was oblivious to why his friend was angry. Izumo pinched the bridge of his nose.

Izumo opened his visible eye, and remembered the first seemingly angry girl in front of him. Kotetsu followed his gaze and soon as well noticed the ebony haired girl who had been spectating the whole time. they both blinked in unison, expecting her to say something.

_Oh yeah_, Aiko recalled. She was supposed to be angsty and melancholic.

"uh-uh...I was just, I wanted to go in." She lamented sadly, trailing her gaze to the ground giving off the most morose aura she could bring forth.

Kotetsu stared at her, not sure what he should do. Just like Izumo, he had no experience with girls. He didn't know how to react. They didn't know how to react. How could they? It didn't help that they were 28 and still almost never left each others side. Didn't quite help their game in finding potential girlfriends, when each friend was but ten feet away. It had been this way ever since they were in elementary school. It really didn't matter though...everybody thought they were gay anyways. Instead of hanging out at bars and flirting with girls like most of the men their age, Izumo and Kotetsu stayed home and played Kyuubi, shōgi, and ate pizza. The very few times they had actually ventured outside to a bar, Kotetsu would get piss drunk and start eating a ton of food while Izumo dragged him home, muttering the whole way. either that, or Izumo got drunk, and he was the asshole kind of drunk. Kotetsu would just laugh and let his friend carry on, and in the morning Izumo would wake up with a huge hangover, and get slapped in the face by random women on the street.

These were the "glory years" they'd be talking about when they were elderly men.

"Uh...er..." Kotetsu started uncomfortably. He didn't know what to do. Izumo could see his friends willpower caving. He was weak towards women.

"I just want my laptop..." Aiko said quietly looking at the floor. So far her feminine capabilities were putting her at an advantage. She thanked kami for blessing her with two X chromosomes. There was one thing her mother had taught her in life; don't underestimate the power of curves. The simple grace of a woman could make grand strongest man fall to his knees.

Aiko put on her best "kicked-puppy" face. She looked up at the men under sad, lidded eyes.

"Well..." Kotetsu started, scratching his head in contemplation. "Just a few moments wouldn't hurt..." he stated giving into Aiko's demand. Aiko inwardly smirked.

This time, Izumo didn't hesitate to punch his idiotic friend in the face. If Aiko even stepped foot on the second floor, it was most likely she would fall through it, and Izumo didn't want an injured teenager on his conscience. She was a liability risk.

"I'm sorry but, you really aren't allowed to go in." Izumo coughed out looking away from her.

This time, Aiko's sleep deprivation, disappointment, and overall exhaustion overcame her in a tidal was of feels. She started to cry.

The two young men started to freak out, fretting over the young girl. Izumo froze instantly. If there was one thing that he did not know how to cope with, it was a crying female.

"UH WE'RE SORRY!" Kotetsu screeched, Hands waving frantically in front of the girls sobbing form.

"YOU CAN HAVE MY WEENIES IS YOU WANT!" Kotetsu offered.

"...hn..?!" Aiko laughed, still crying. She had never heard something so absurd in her life.

Across the street, a certain pineapple head strolled lazily down the sidewalk. His droopy eyes were brought to the forms of the two young men, whom he was acquaintances with, shouting random phrases. For a split second he debated walking over to them, but decided it was too much effort.

"PLEASE STOP CRYING, I'LL PROMISE YOU MY FIRST-BORN CHILD," He faintly heard Kotetsu scream across the street.

He simply turned away, and continued his stroll, hoping that the two men wouldn't notice him.

_So troublesome_...he thought.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

Aiko awoke to the sounds of enthusiastic bird calls, and laughing children. Her right eye twitched in irritation as her face contorted into lopsided maniacal smile. Her expression resembled that of the seniors in her highschool who'd just finished their finals for the year. Tired, sadistic, and of course, sleep deprived.

It seemed to be a trend.

Aiko groaned loudly as frustrated chuckles escaped her mouth. Whether it sounded like crying, or laughter she could not decipher. She didn't know what to think.

For the last three weeks the Uchiha's had been living out of a local hotel. It was just fortunate that they had a substantial rainy day fund, and well it sure came in handy right now. The only disadvantage is that in order to make their rainy day finds stretch out into a long period of time necessary, the three person Uchiha family has to share a hotel room. Well that was how they wanted to look at it. The real problem was that the hotel was overbooked and only one room was available.

Her mother trying to lighten the mood, told them to think of it as an "extended vacation." but who really vacations in the same town they lived in? And of course the was the indispensable component that all of their belongings were still trapped on the second floor, and they still weren't permitted to step foot into the building due to safety precautions.

They couldn't retrieve anything, which royally sucked.

You'd think staying in a hotel would be fun right? Room service, people cleaning your room for you, pools, gyms and anything else hotel related? The offhand chance of a cliche summer romance budding as one met their significant other lounging in the main lobby, or soaking up some Vitamin D by the pool? And of courses he always fun prospect of riding the baggage carts with your best friends like an older version of Zack and Cody. But that wasn't the case...no...

Naturally within that three-week span, the normally cool and collective Uchiha's had become increasingly agitated by each others presence, for they could not seek any refuge from each other, nor could they enjoy their usual long periods of alone time, which kept their sanity in tact. The most pronounced victim of lost sanity within their three person family unit had to be Aiko father, who had simply let his exasperation manifest into grotesque vexation, discernible by the constant disgruntled appearance he seemed to wear nowadays. She had never seen her father appear so immensely choleric, for one small factor that was wrong, could send the older man into a fit of mutters and displeased scowls. Aiko remembered how aggravated and upset he had become when he realized the hotel did not provide coffee for customers free, but at an unfair, rip-off price. Never did she wish to see that blank expression which was her father not functioning on caffeine ever again.

But that wasn't the only obstacle to their happiness, no...

The sleeping arrangements were also a problem to be addressed. When they had first walked into the suite, all the Uchiha's minds were focused on the prospect of sleep, for their exhaustion had surpassed normal standards. However that thought was quickly erased by annoyance when they had all discovered there to be only one bed in the room.

It was an all out war.

...

Aiko got the short stick. Apparently the simple fact of being older meant they deserved better. When she argued against her parents they pulled out the "_cause we said so_" rebuttal. Lame.

Peeling herself off of the pull out couch, snapping herself out of her reverie, Aiko distinctively heard the sounds of her bones cracking in unison. She groaned and stretched, rubbing her sore muscles. She seriously considered joining her mother in her sunrise yoga class, but Aiko was certain that if she intruded on her mothers form of recreation and "alone time" it would not benefit her.

She could really go for a cup of coffee right now, but knowing her father, he had been hoarding it all for himself. To Aiko, he was just but an older, more sophisticated Smeagle attempted to protect his "precious" Aiko rolled her eyes. This whole fiasco was ridiculous.

Before she had been joking...loosely, but now she really was tempted to "soak the sand with their blood and cleanse her nation." except this time her animosity was directed at her parents, and her nation would be a party of one...no reservation required of course. She was the top biatch. The top biatch don't need no reservations.

_And who was the top biatch?_

_Aiko was the top biatch._

**_Biatch._**

Aiko smirked in spite of herself, rolling her eyes, _ah sarcasm...you never fail me_. And if you hadn't detected it, that was sarcasm as well.

She was just a ball of concentrated sunshine and sadistic tendencies. Well at least, only half the time. Being "psychothic" took too much effort to keep up at all times. Simply too much effort. These thoughts would only stay confined to her brain, it's not like she would act on them. Like killing somebody because she didn't like their face, or thought their eye was weird or something. Then she'd be ripping up the floorboards to find the beating of her hideous sanity.*****

If anybody caught the reference, Aiko would applaud you.

Anyways, besides her,aching back and increasing murderous thoughts, Aiko had one goal in mind, and no, it wasn't to plan a hypothetical mass murder of her family. If anything Aiko thought Sasuke would be the one to flip shit...but thinking about it Itachi was a wild card. He'd probably have the abilities to successful commit the crime. But of course Itachi was a pacifist and it wasn't like they lived in some corrupt ninja world where something like that could really happen.

Aiko could imagine it, Itachi would be standing in the middle of their home, face shadowed, like every cliché suspenseful movie scene. Sasuke would be face down on the floor, afraid.

_"...Why...why...did you...?" A terrorized Sasuke would ask in disbelief._

_Itachi would stare back having a blank stare._

_..._

_..._

_..._

**_"I did it for the vine..."_**

**_..._**

**_..._**

**_.._**

Wait...what was she thinking again?

Oh right...her morning goal.

Simply she liked to call it her conquest for calories, her expedition for edible items, a journey for junk food.

In simple terms, this hotel had continental breakfast. This was no ordinary free food however...the hotel had much more than your standard Marriott-Hotel styled continental breakfast, no. This hotel, was the El Dorado of meals. Sushi bars, salad bars, buffets, and even a Hibachi grill. They even had a David's cookie place for kamis sake! Except that David's cookies actually costed money...so, it was a shame. As much as she loved sweets, she didn't love to spend money on them. However, free food in her opinion, was the best thing ever.

Aiko hurriedly rushed towards the door, daydreaming about what she would eat for breakfast.

_Muffins aha..._

_..._

"Where are you going..?" The feminine voice of her mother questioned. The woman placed her hand on her hips.

"Uh...breakfast..?" Aiko said. what else would she be doing?

Her mother's face shone with recognition.

"Ah I see...You're finally becoming more social. I think Sasuke's finally rubbed off on you."

Aiko rolled her eyes. "Um, mom, Sasuke does exactly what I do...just in public."

"...Hn...Touché"

The older woman scrutinized her daughter, a miffed expression on her face.

"Are you sure you aren't forgetting something?" She slowly questioned.

Aiko was at a loss. She had no idea as to what her mother was referring to. She followed her mother's gaze downward until she settled on her bare legs.

She had forgotten to put on pants.

Pants.

**Pa****nts.**

_**...pants.**_

Oh dear lord, she really was losing her touch.

Aiko pretended nothing was amiss.

"I'm positive I'm not missing anything." She clearly stated defiantly.

"You're positive?" Aiko's mother inquired, one eye brow raised. She was certain she hadn't raised an idiot.

"Positive." Aiko clarified.

"...hn..." Her mother skeptically walked away, pinching the bridge of her nose. What was the world coming to?

Suddenly Aiko's attention was now focused on her appearance.

She looked like death.

Breakfast would have to wait.

"...hhhhhnnnnn..."

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

Aiko's expedition for edible items, her conquest for calories, a journey to the El Dorado of meals was a bust. A complete, and utter, failure. No, she wasn't gorging herself in glee, participating in one the deadly sins of gluttony. No, she wasn't drowning in the layers of fat she would be able to obtain by eating a constant stream of grease and flavor. Instead she was still standing there, calorie less, and still pathetically hungry. She stared at her fallen comrade with a sense of scorched determination. It was her loss, a critical wound to her pride.

Her muffin, there, on the floor. All alone, crumbs sprawled out like a bullet wound to its muffin head.

Her once glorious pastry was now destroyed, useless.

"You were a great comrade. Viva la muffin, rest in peace." Aiko whispered to the snack, closing her eyes in respect, hands in a mock prayer.

...

...

...

"...Uh, sorry...you okay?" A low hoarse pulled her put of her thoughts.

A teenage boy with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes looked at her apologetically. He wore all black, a humorous enough, a black hoodie with some weird circle symbol on it, but that wasn't the amusing part. He had his black hood up, but it was shaped as if it had small ears.

**_Kitty boy_** Aiko instantly dubbed him. But this amusing fact didn't make this any better.

Her poor muffin, was still there, on the expertly polished marble floor.

"You murdered it..." Aiko stated, staring '**_Kitty boy'_ **in the face.

The older males right eye twitched. That blank emotionless stare was way too familiar with him.

"Yeah...I'm sorry about that. Won't happen again." He wanted to get away from this mysterious girl. The resemblance she bore to his apathetic younger brother frightened the shit out of him.

"It's dead..." Aiko mumbled, face contorting to a frown.

He didn't know what to make of that statement. He was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Aiko seemed to make people feel that way a lot.

Without notice Aiko felt the weight of a hand on her right shoulder. Looking up she saw on her once empty plate, there was another gleaming muffin. She blinked in confusion._ When did that get there?_

She would just have to roll with it.

Just like her previous muffin.

...

She was so done with herself.

...

"Sorry about my brother Kankuro, he's an idiot sometimes..." A low, gruff, monotone voice sounded from her right side. The voice was clear, but sounded as if the person were still talking in a whisper. A befitting contradiction.

Aiko looked up to her right to see a teenage boy standing beside her. He had vibrant auburn hair, piercing blue eyes, and alarming of all...no eyebrows.

Seriously, the guy literally had no eyebrows whatsoever...but for some reason it looked natural on him.

_Weird._

Aiko never broke her gaze from the auburn haired male. (Hey that rhymed) He returned the stare with apathetic eyes, not blinking, not breaking their eye contract. Aiko narrowed her eyes at him. He simply rose a non-existent brow.

_How was that even possible? _Aiko pondered. How the heck could a person look so natural with...no eyebrows? This, was an anomaly.

A loud feminine voice pulled them all out of their musings.

"KANKURO! GAARA! STOP MESSING AROUND, WE HAVE A SCHEDULE TO FOLLOW!" She demanded from across the room. All heads whipped in the direction of the bossy female. Four shiny blonde ponytails, styled to perfection, and blue eyes glinting with slight irritation. The young woman gave off an air of pure confidence and refinery. Unfortunately, her demanding tone was in fact directed at her younger Suna brothers.

"Temari..." Kankuro whispered, a scowl becoming evident on his face. He was hoping she wouldn't find them here.

Gaara and Kankuro grimaced, Gaara's coming out as more of a small frown. They so were not looking forward to the day of sight-seeing and shopping they'd have to endure at hands of their older sister. Just like Aiko they had a long day ahead of them as well. Just as much as the two young adults LOVED shopping...yeah...just...no... They had already gone through the torture of bra shopping with their older sister. They did not want to know what other stores the shameless blonde would drag them to. Earlier she had hinted about swimsuit shopping.

Kankuro shuddered at the thought. He may have been perfectly fine with accompanying any other girl to a swimsuit shop to watch try on bikini's, and answer questions on his opinions about one or the other, or what color suited them best, however his sister was demanding.

Demanding and hard to please.

Aiko chomped on her muffin, watching with no particular interest.

She was meeting a lot of new people today.

* * *

**True story, I told my brother that Itachi murdered his clan and his first reaction was to say. "Did it for the vine." Dear Lord, my family.**

**I just love Kotetsu and Izumo's friendship dynamic. They're like, comedic relief and badass into one. Expect to see them more in the future.**

**Please tell me if you like the way I am portraying characters so far...or if you do not like the way I am doing so. I'd hate to make anyone too OOC**

**~dreamwithinadream262**

**Review?**


	4. Sleep chic and expert shopping?

**OI MEH HEARTIES...how's life? Just pointing it out the part where Aiko says**

_**"Like killing somebody because she didn't like their face, or thought their eye was weird or something. Then she'd be ripping up the floorboards to find the beating of her hideous sanity."**_

**It was a reference to the last line in "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe**

**Was wondering if anybody recognized it.**

**I dreamwithinadream262 do not own Naruto. I merely write fanfiction because it's fun.**

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

"Oh, and you are?" The blonde young adult known as Temari questioned Aiko, noticing her beside her two younger brothers. She hadn't noticed the aloof girl eating a muffin before from across the room, as she was too busy reprimanding her brothers for their tomfoolery. Seriously, what did Kankuro and Gaara believe, that shopping was to be taken lightly? Temari wasn't happy, she of course, being an experienced shopper, knew the true importance of shopping in this day in age. It wasn't simply a recreational activity. No, it was necessary.

Aiko swallowed another bite of her muffin scrutinizing the older girl. On the outside it seemed like Temari was a high maintenance bitch, however Aiko could see that Temari didn't take shit from anyone, and was prompt and direct when starting her opinions. Temari respected herself, and wasn't afraid to show her true colors. Aiko decided she liked the older girl.

"Aiko." She slowly replied, looking up to meet the older girls eyes. A glint of satisfaction and confidence shone in them. Temari approved of her.

"Ah, Aiko, aren't you just the cutest thing! I'm Temari if you didn't know already!" Temari enthusiastically introduced herself. She was certainly good with people, and uncannily charismatic.

Definitely the opposite of her two brothers.

"Uh thanks." Aiko retorted, regarding the "cute" comment directed at her. She didn't exactly know what Temari was talking about. She hadn't exactly dressed to impress. Scanning her outfit which consisted of a gray hoodie, and some plaid pajama pants, she shrugged nonchalantly. "**_I call it sleep chić_**."

Kankuro bit back a laugh while Gaara smiled faintly. That was certainly something they'd never heard before.

"Sleep chić..." Temari repeated, humored. She put a hand to her lips contemplating. A few tense seconds passed, the only sounds of Aiko's muffled chewing.

"I've decided..." Temari started a clear tone in her voice. Kankuro and Gaara knew were this was going. There was either one of two phrases Temari would say after this. They waited on their sister, anticipating her next few words.

"I've officially decided that I like you." She finished, a wide smile adorning her face. Temari appreciated Aiko's blunt tone and clever sarcasm. She kind of reminded her of her own self.

Aiko's eyes widened a fraction, soaking up Temari's words like a sponge.

_Well that was rather blunt..._

"Thanks..." She trailed off, not quite sure what else to say. "You're not too shabby yourself."

Temari beamed at the younger girl in front of her...kind of like a fly trap. You know, the really bright ones, that basically fry insects to death? Yeah, that's how bright Temari's smile was, except it probably wouldn't be best to make an analogy about how she attracted bugs in front of her. Temari's humor only went so far.

Anyways, Temari, still smiling at Aiko (she wondered how long Temari could smile until her face froze that way) re-registered the fact that she was supposed to be at her brothers. She turned on her heel, grabbing Kankuro, or _Kitty boy_ as Aiko referred to him as, by the ear, the real ear, and pinched down hard.

Kankuro hissed in pain.

"AND YOU!" Temari pointed an accusing finger towards Kankuro. "I leave for one minute to reserve a pair of the lasted style of Bandolinos, and you run away to the food court like some uncivilized stray feline!"

Kankuro breathed in sharply, this sort of insult seemed to get thrown at him more than often. To him, his hood did not resemble cat ears. He was not a freakin cat. Why was he the subject of so many cat jokes? He let out his agitated breath. Even if he were a feline...

He would be a lion dammit.

_A fearsome Lion._

**_An attractive Lion._**

**_hmph._**

...

"Gaara left too!" Kankuro defended, pointing towards his younger sibling accusingly just as his sister had done to him. Gaara stared blankly at his older brother a look of innocence gracing his features. He folded his arms defensively, raising a non-existent brow challenging the offense.

Temari's vision shifted over to Gaara, and she reluctantly released Kankuro's ear. He stepped back a few feet, rubbing his ear muttering about his "crazy demonic sister" or something like that. Temari pretended not to hear him.

"And you..." Temari addressed the youngest Suna sibling menacingly. She stepped forward towards her younger brother pausing for dramatic effect, "Don't be an idiot like Kankuro, okay?" She finished, her words soaked in affection.

"Anything for you." Gaara said giving a closed eyed smile.

Kankuro seethed in the corner, throwing up his arms in indignation Glaring at his younger, and older siblings he frowned. Gaara always got off the hook for being the youngest. _IT WAS THE EYEBROWS_, Kankuro thought. It just had to be.

"Did my brothers," Temari started, quickly sending a heated glare to Kankuro. "Cause any trouble for you?"

Aiko thought for a moment. She didn't think muffin homicide would technically count...or would it?

"...Not particularly." Aiko stated. Kankuro breathed a sigh of relief. He would get to live and see another sunrise.

Temari breathed her own sigh of relief. "That's relieving. These two," She slung an arm around both her brothers shoulders,"Have a habit of getting into trouble when I'm not around."

Gaara and Kankuro looked slightly uncomfortable in the choke hold their sister had put them in. Gaara made little to no effort to move, but Kankuro was struggling.

He growled.

"I resent that!" Kankuro screamed.

Temari flipped his hood up and ground her knuckles into his head, ruffling his spiky, brown hair in the process. Aiko flinched. That'd have to had hurt. She recalled all the times where Sasuke had done that to her.

Kankuro resembled that of a frazzled cat who'd just gotten their tail stepped on.

"Who told you speak?" Temari intimidatingly asked her brother through clenched teeth, tightening her hold around his neck. Over the years she had perfected the art of skillfully cutting off ones air supply via chokehold. At the moment Kankuro's face was turning colors, from red anger, to blue air deprivation.

That sure looked painful.

Aiko blanched. She almost felt bad for Kitty boy.

_Almost._

...

After a few seconds, Kankuro caved. He valued his pride, but his life was more important to him.

"Go- gomen," he bit out, gasping for air.

Temari smirked.

"That's a good kitty."

Temari harshly loosened her grip on her boys neck. He wheezed and took deep breaths, attempting to restore his air supply. Too distracted by the burning of his lungs, he didn't quite register the cat insult.

"Temari?" The auburn haired teen beside her asked. Temari turned her head over to see her darling younger brother. He didn't speak much, but when he did he always had something important to say. Not like that idiot Kankuro.

Okay, maybe Temari was exaggerating, but she liked picking on Kankuro.

Gaara didn't say another word, but instead nodded his head to the side, eyes going in that direction. Kankuro, Aiko, and Temari followed his gaze and now, noticed the amount of heads and eyes trained in their direction. They were quite the spectacle, especially with Temari's practical abuse. The loud girl stood out amongst the crowd of soft-spoken families.

It became awkwardly silent, but Aiko didn't mind, she was use to this type of atmosphere.

Aiko ate her muffin.

Gaara looked at the floor.

Kankuro threw up his hood.

Somebody coughed.

"Better continue this conversation outside?" Temari said, not at all affected by the many eyes on here. She laughed. Temari, embarrassed? Not a chance.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

...

...

...

"How did I end up in this...?!" Aiko said sighing, looking at the ceiling in irritation.

Behind her a mother ushered her child hurriedly away from the strange teenage girl clad in pajama's who had been muttering to herself for the last five minutes. Take note, there are some things you just shouldn't do in public.

In Aiko's defense, she hadn't quite noticed she was voicing all of her thoughts aloud. That was a bad habit of hers.

Somehow, the teen had been caged by Temari's charisma, and hadn't noticed that the older girl had led Aiko away from the hotel grounds as she chatted away happily. Not wanting to be rude, Aiko stayed listening to Temari, answering more monosyllabic as the conversation continued, and before she knew it...she was dragged along on Temari's shopping spree. For a split second, Aiko thought of the offhand chance that she could get kidnapped by the odd strangers, but decided that was highly improbable.

How, great. (Note, increasing sarcasm)

Kankuro and Gaara had slyly slipped away from the group, taking the opportunity to leave when they saw the chance. Of course they felt bad for Aiko, however they were perfectly content with letting the girl take their places as Temari's slaves for the time being.

Freedom was sweet.

Aiko was cursing them in her head.

Aiko didn't have any problem accompanying Temari to shop at first, and thought that she may as well benefit from shopping with another female around her age. She didn't go shopping often, and this gave her the opportunity to replenish the supply of clothes she had lost in the fire. Her mother simply refused to take her, claiming that she was very busy organizing accommodations, fire and all, but Aiko knew that was a lie. She saw the small stack of designer bags hidden under the hotel room's bed.

No, Aiko didn't have a problem accompanying Temari, and she didn't mind the odd looks she was getting for being dressed so casually in public, but Temari, just like the Uchiha's when angered, resembled a demon in her domain of shopping.

However, she wasn't fond on divulging the deatils to her private life. When Temari inquired on why the girl was staying at the hotel, Aiko coughed uncomfortably, and calimed it was _"family business"_

Aiko could barely count the amount of blouses, pants, skirts, belts, shoes, and other accessories that Temari inspected in every store, cross comparing prices, ranting about shades and tints and what colors were in season. For all Aiko knew, there was no such thing as a "hot" color, as Temari referred to them as. Aiko struggled to keep up with the older girls graceful fast walking pace while carrying her many bags like a human pack mule. The visits to the stores were either very short, or excruciatingly long, ranging from mere seconds to an hour. Worst of all, there were times when Temari tried on multiple out-fits claiming she liked the style and color, only to leave the store not having bought anything, leaving a very angry, exhausted manager in her wake.

She was an expert shopper alright. Some of the store owners even referred to her as the notorious Sassy Suna sister.

No wonder Gaara and Kankuro ditched the second they could.

_Jerks._

Right now, Temari was yet again trying on outfits in the changing room. Occasionally you could make out the sight of a random article of clothing flying out from over the changing room doors, or heard the bossy blondes voice calling out for somebody to get her the article or clothing she wanted in a smaller, or larger size. That "somebody" being Aiko.

She knew Temari was going to take her time in this store. This hypothesis coming about when Temari's eyes had lit up upon seeing the shops sign, like an even more fierce-some level of marathon shopper had been awakened inside of her, the blonde exclaiming in a loud excited voice how this was her favorite store.

Aiko scowled as her arms fell asleep. Her feet hurt, and she'd just discovered how energy-consuming shopping really could be.

However not all was terrible.

Temari at least had the decency and courtesy to buy Aiko a smoothie. Diet of course, because apparently it had _The taste of real food, diquised as rabit food. _Aiko didn't exactly know exactly what was in the supposed "ultra health drink", but it tasted good, and that's all that mattered.

Aiko snickered remembering what'd happened right after that. Temari spotted Kankuro in the food court flirting with some girls (it looked like it was going quite successfully) when she marched up to him, pinched his cheeks and rambled about how when he was six, Kankuro thought he was a cat, and refused to go outside in fear of flees.

The girls all laughed, but Kankuro was red as a beet.

"An eye for an eye." Temari whispered in his ear. "An eye for an eye."

Right after that incident, Gaara was spotted in the middle of a crowd of nerd looking teenagers, with a couple of college students milling around, who all looked shocked and enthralled to see him. Aiko even thought she saw him sign some autographs but dismissed that thought as foolish and downright weird. Gaara wore a smug look as he stood in the middle of the crowd, somewhat amused at the occurrence.

Aiko followed in Temari's stead as she heard the demon shopper mutter under her breath about her "_stupid little brothers fanboys_" or something of the sort.

Gaara, sensing the presence of his sister smiled at all of his fans saying "Looks like it's time for me to take my leave..." as the oldest Suna sibling dragged him away from the crowd. All of the nerd guys, intimidated by the presence of an attractive female stared in shock as the object of their affections was taken from them.

Aiko thought she heard a few muffled cries of "_Kazekage-sama_!" coming from the crowd, but she chose to ignore it. She had no idea what that meant. She also noted the presence of a teenage guy walking by as he muttered "_troublesome_" under his breath. Aiko agreed with him while heartedly, and for some odd reason, he looked strangley familiar. _Kazekage-sama..._Aiko pondered.

Later, she found out it was some kind of game rank.

...

...

...

That explanation didn't clear her confusion whatsoever.

Then, once again, the crafty Suna brothers somehow disappeared from view, and Temari, deeming that searching for her brothers for a third time would be completely useless, and inefficient, resumed her shopping.

...which brought us back to the present.

Aiko closed her eyes, feeling the weight of the bags growing the more she held it. If shopping were an Olympic sport, the athletes would certainly have great stamina and upper body shape. Temari was right,shopping really was something not to be trifled with. It could be serious under the correct context, as in now.

Feeling half of the weight load suddenly becoming alleviated from her left side, Aiko snapped her eyes open to be met with Sea-foam green eyes. Aiko's beating heart started to slow down. Gaara was very good at lying low and not being noticed.

_That guy's a freakin phantom._ Aiko thought, calming herself down. She almost had a heart attack for kami's sake! (she'd also just noticed how many times she used the phrase "kami's sake")

"Sorry to have startled you." Was all the soft-spoken auburn haired male said.

"No problem..." Aiko mindlessly replied. She could really go for another muffin right about now... The one he chose was pretty good too...

...

...

...

"I thoroughly apologize for any transgressions you may have experienced at the hands of my sister." Gaara looked straight ahead. "She's a bit...excitable."

Aiko stared at the brow-less male with interest. Hah, it's not quite common to find a person who apologizes for their older siblings behavior versus the latter. Then again, out of the three siblings it had seemed that Gaara was the more toned down, while his older brother and sister were definitely more expressive and social than him.

"...Hn...It's okay."

It got quiet quickly as the two introverted teens lapsed into their comfortable silence. Aiko debated taking out her phone to listen to music, but she thought that'd be rude. Gaara however had swiftly taken out his phone, and was rapidly texting. He returned the device to his pocket a short time afterward.

Seconds later, the familiar face of a panting Kankuro was seen. Besides his ragged breathing and pounding heart, he was very elated.

"So..." breath, "Temari's..." Wheez "...In the dressing room?!" He sputtered out, unable to speak his sentences in one fluid motion.

He really did sound like a cat throwing up a hair-ball.

Just a beautiful analogy, for a wonderful day.

"Right over there." Gaara gestured, rolling his head to the side. Kankuro glanced over noticing the pile of clothes haphazardly thrown about the front of the door. Yes, that validated it. It was in fact his sister, occupying the small space. He grimaced, acknowledging how big the pile of clothes had grown. Some poor worker was not going to enjoy themselves cleaning up after that monstrosity.

Finally noticing Aiko, Kankuro cocked his head to the side. He'd forgotten that the raven haired girl had tagged along with them. He applauded her mentally. Dealing with Temari for a day was a real daunting task. He could barely put up with her himself, and he was her brother. How the pint-sized girl was still standing up straight, and not going out of her mind at the moment, Kankuro could not understand.

Taking note of the smoothie in Aiko's hand, Kankuro speedily scooped up the cup in one swift motion. He was seriously parched, and in need of fluids, now.

"Hope you don't mind," He said in between a gulp, "If I borrow this for a second."

He'd basically inhaled it all down in one second. It was comical and intriguing sight. The speed in which the boy was finishing the drink looked physically impossible.

Temari would surely refer to him as "uncultured swine" if he ever committed that act in front of her.

Aiko stared at the empty space in her hand where he'd abducted her fruity drink, and then looked back up at the dehydrated male, pouting.

"Uhm...fine. You can have it." she said. It seemed all her food was disappearing nowadays..

"Really?! Thanks!" Kankuro said, turning the drink upwards at a ninety-degree angle in order to get the last of the liquid left in the cup. Maybe they'd just gotten off on a bad start, he thought. She wasn't that horrible. Anyone who could bare the company of Temari for the amount of time Aiko had, deserved his respect.

Aiko watched Kankuro down the last of what use to be her smoothie and sighed. She could always get another one anyways...

"That was refreshing." he finished with a smile.

"Kankuro..." Gaara's voice interrupted.

Kankuro, turning towards his brother, a clueless expression on his face. Then noticing the calculating stare his brother was directing at him, his eyes rested on the crushed cup between his fingers. Suddenly he felt guilty. Whoops.

"Ah...sorry for that..." Kankuro turned towards Aiko with a sheepish smile. He'd just realized how brash his actions had been. He looked down at the crushed cup. "I'll buy you another one...if you want..."

Aiko blinked, realizing _kitty boys_ apologetic words. So he did have a brain after all?

"It's all good." She stated.

"You sure...?"

"Hn"

...

...

...

"So...why were you in such a hurry to get here anyways?"

Kankuros face brightened like a lightbulb. He smirked. "This," he said arms waving out to the space around him. "Is Temari's favorite store. She always saves it for last...meaning..." Kankuro checked the watch he had on his wrist. "She should be out in..."

"Three..." Started Gaara...

...Aiko felt that something interesting was about to occur.

"Two..." Kankuro continued.

...the suspense was killing her.

...

"...one..?" Aiko finished.

as soon as Kankuro mouthed the word for zero, there was a distinct sound of a door slamming open.

"THIS IS IT!" Temari yelled valiantly, a bundle of fabric (her newest purchases) in hand.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

**Aha, that was a fun chapter to write. A bit challanging, but fun.**

**I can't wait til summer so I can't write fanfiction everyday. **

**Right now, I'm a prime example of Sleep Chic.**

**~dreamwithinadream262**

**Review?**


	5. Books, Frank, naruto, and Jinchuriki?

**HEYYYY EVERYONE**

**That's all.**

**I dreamwithinadream262 do not own Naruto**

* * *

_**~oOo~**_

* * *

Temari smiled brightly, now dressed in the new outfit she had purchased minutes ago. The amusing thing was, that the outfit she had chosen was not very different from the one she wore earlier in the day. Instead of a red blouse with black denim shorts, Temari had on a black sundress that ended just above her knees, with a red sash around the midsection. Aiko guessed that red and black must've been her favorite color scheme. She couldn't disagree , for it was one of her favorites as well. Even in the simple black dress, Temari looked refined as always, for she simply could make any outfit work for her figure and attitude, if that made any sense. Aiko was certain that Temari could even make sweat a fashion statement, and would appear just as beautiful as always.

She might have been slightly jealous of the blondes appearance. Then again, she couldn't help but notice the difference between the two of them as she stood next to the fashionable girl in her pajamas. Sleep chic wasn't doing her any justice at the moment.

Maybe she should have attempted to dress up as she left her hotel room that morning...

Except she wasn't exactly thinking she'd get kidnapped to go shopping while eating breakfast by a trio of odd siblings...

Whatever...

Kankuro and Gaara were correct, the store that they had all been standing in was in fact, Temari's favorite place to shop. Now that the boisterous blonde had gotten her fill of shopping adrenaline for the day, she was finally finished. This meant that the rest of the day could be spent relaxing or anything else they wanted to do.

"Any place you want to go? Temari asked Aiko with a bubbly smile. "I'm exchange for being my slave for a day, you can go to any store you want. Anything you wish for, I'll pay."

Nice to know she was regarded to as Temari's personal slave. Aiko thought.

However, other than that, Aiko was surprised to hear the older girl utter those sincere and genuine words. She guessed even Temari knew when she was imposing on people, and how rough her shopping regiment actually was in regards to normal social standards.

This was like a peace-offering for the day they had put her through. In Temari's logic she was atoning for the rash actions of her brothers and her own self. Aiko considered the proposal, going through her options. She didn't exactly want to take advantage of Temari's money, and despised letting other people pay for her things. But...Aiko also really loved free stuff, with a passion. She had picked up her family's frugal spending habits, always searching for a sale or discount. Itachi was the larger culprit of frugality. After the fire anything free was like God basically.

And if free items were God, that meant that Temari was like an angel or some crap.

Logic.

Just kidding...

But still, Aiko didn't want to exploit Temari's money for her own good, even if the girl had offered. It was a stubborn Uchiha trait of pride, to pay ones way through life with their own accomplishments and work. Of course, even in this circumstance, that virtue applied. Of course, Aiko would be perfectly okay if Sasuke were extending this type of courtesy towards her (not like that'd ever happen soon). Then she wouldn't hesitate for one moment to accept the offer, however...

Temari wasn't family...

If you couldn't tell, Aiko had a bit of a stubborn streak with her pride.

Just a tad.

However, Aiko knew Temari wouldn't just let her get away without at least one object purchased, and it couldn't be something frivolous, or silly. So Aiko thought for a couple of seconds, mulling through her options.

"Isn't there a bookstore around here somewhere...?" Aiko asked aloud to the siblings. Hearing that they weren't going to go to another store for clothes, both Kankuro and Gaara smirked. They liked literature.

Temari's perfectly plucked eyebrows whirled up in surprise. She hadn't expected such a simple, mundane reply from the girl (not saying literature was boring in any way). A majority of the time, if not every time Temari gave that proposal the individual would Immediately see their options, and use Temari's money to their advantage, by buying something very expensive they wouldn't be able to get on a regular day. Even though She didn't mind, Temari couldn't help but think she was being used in some way. But as stated before, she didn't mind it...much.

"Are you sure? There's a whole ton of stores that sell really cute clothes back there..." Temari tried again, questioning the girl further, gesturing behind her.

Aiko shifted into her other leg. "A book will suffice. But you don't have to come, or pay...if you don't want to."

Of course Temari assumed Aiko was different, maybe a but eccentric, but she had truly underestimated the girl.

She was really starting to like her, a lot.

"That's alright..." Temari started. "But...are you sure?" This time, Temari truly did want to buy the girl something expensive for being so...cool.

If only she knew it was just a pride issue.

Aiko nodded her head. "Hn"

Temari breathed in. "...Alright then," she turned around on her heel, face morphing into a confused smile, she laughed lightly. Then she stopped suddenly, straightened her back, and declared in an enthusiastic voice..."Off to gather books we go! Novels and comics and nerds, Oh my!"

Kankuro followed eagerly after his energized sisters steps with a sly smile on his face. Gaara walked lazily behind his siblings, still keeping a brisk pace, but looking very nonchalant. Aiko was last in tow, an amused look on her face. She found it hilarious and horrifying that in her many years of living in the area...Temari knew her way around better than herself. In fact, Aiko was practically relying on the blonde to lead the way, for she would've certainly gotten lost within the first five minutes.

But she would never admit that.

"I wonder if they have a Starbucks in there..." Aiko heard Temari mutter under her breath.

Aiko laughed lightly. They did.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

"This book is so weird!" Temari exclaimed, holding up a colorful volume of manga, glossy cover shining in alarm as if it were yelling for somebody to save it from the blondes clutches.

"Temari...you're reading it the wrong way..." Kankuro deadpanned, staring at his confused sister. Temari wasn't unintelligent, but she did have her moments.

"Oh..." Temari exhaled, now opening the volume from the correct side, starting to read it. "I will never understand these foreign comic books." She flipped through the pages quickly, staring at each illustration with mild interest as they met her eyes for mere seconds.

Aiko's eye twitched as she inwardly cringed. Temari had the book opened almost to a one-hundred eighty degree angle. To most people this wouldn't seem to be a problem, but to Aiko, it was sending shivers down her spine. If it weren't rude, Aiko would've walked over to Temari and plucked the volume straight out of her long manicured fingers. The binding...Temari was so close to cracking the spine...

"Manga.." Kankuro defended. "It's called manga."

For once, Aiko actually respected Kitty Boy for being informed, and actually knowing what the specific term for the graphic novel was. She'd only met a handful of people who actually knew what manga was, and to be honest only about 10% of those people were actual real candidates for who you could potentially hang out with. The rest were a tad...eccentric, and not in a good way, as in they'd become very defensive if you didn't agree with their OTP.

As in very defensive, well...let's just say you wouldn't want to be there when their fandom fury was released. Aiko had made that mistake once.

Never again...

It was a shame, really.

Temari narrowed her eyes at Kankuro and then at the book, picking up the drooping side with her free hand. Temari liked books, but she her knowledge of anything in the comic realm was...well...zero. Of course she had a minor interest, but to be honest even with her confidence, the group of people associated with this type of subject intimidated her.

She never would admit it, but large quantities of nerds frightened her slightly. It sounded ridiculous but imagine calmly browsing shelves of volumes you know nothing about while right next to you the sounds of shouts about Kyuubi, Dungeons and Dragons, and Pokémon are heard. It wouldn't be a problem if you had knowledge about the subjects around you but when you're a complete novice, the action is very unnerving. Sort of like when you go to a concert and you only know one band.

You feel a little different you know?

But it was only slightly. Just because a few groups of people made Temari uncomfortable didn't mean it would deter her from indulging in her curiosities.

"So, is there any interesting story's here I would like? All I'm getting from this..." Temari paused, "...manga...is that sealing yourself in a one-hundred foot wall doesn't make for a good defense when the Jolly Green Giant's cousin comes for a visit."

"They're called Titans...hence the title." Kankuro sighed in annoyance.

Temari skeptically stared back at her brother. "Okay, so...does this mean there's Greek mythology in here..?"

Kankuro face palmed, "No..."

"Well that doesn't make any sense." She flipped through the pages, inspecting the artwork.

"It doesn't have to make sense!"

Temari looked up.

"And why not..?!"

"Because...it's fiction."

Temari rolled her eyes and flipped the pages more. "Still doesn't make sense..."

"It's manga, logic doesn't have to apply."

"Your logic doesn't apply."

Kankuro looked stumped at is sister's defense. She obviously didn't understand the concept of fiction. He didn't know what to say next.

"Your face doesn't apply."

Aiko chuckled softly while Gaara groaned. They were at it again. Temari continued...

"WOW...and here I thought you were what...seventeen years old? Seems you've reverted back to being ten. Should I take away your catnip for the week?"

Kankuro's face scrunched up at yet another cat reference directed at him.

"Me, ten? With those pony tails of yours anybody would think you're what? Hmmm...I don't know...six?"

Temari calmly put the volume of manga back on the shelf gingerly, and cracked her knuckles simultaneously, a sinister smile overtaking her features.

"Kitty-kun...I suggest you take that back."

Kankuro ignoring his sister, stood his ground defiantly. He may have cowered at Temari's wrath before, but this was different. This wasn't good though. He'd struck a chord he shouldn't have hit...Temari's hair was an...interesting subject.

"hmph..." He looked away, avoiding Temari's eyes. He was starting to sweat.

His older blonde sister walked up slowly, an aura of sadistic glee encompassing her.

Aiko shuddered looking at Temari. That aura...gave her unpleasant déjà vu about getting her relatives angered. Uchiha's had a way of killing you with kindness that you could never imagine until you witnessed it. It was like Itachi...either he killed you with his diplomacy or silenced you with his eyes.

"You know what they say," Temari said laughing. Then, she cut her laughter and sent an icy glare at her brother. "Curiosity killed the Kankuro."

Just before Temari could pummel Kankuro, Gaara intervened, standing in between his two siblings. He shot an irritated glare in both their directions, which caused them to both shrink back immediately, all anger lost instantaneously. If you had thought Temari's rage was scary, you'd never have seen Gaara in an annoyed state. His glare was like concentrated death.

Gaara folded his arms, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sometimes he felt as if he were the oldest one here.

Temari coughed, avoiding her younger siblings eyes.

"We'll continue this later."

Kankuro nodded. "Agreed."

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

"So, Frank, you got anything new for me?" Aiko asked, arms pushed up on the store's front counter. She rocked on her heels, staring at the rows of merchandise that lined the storefront. This may have looked like your average local bookshop, but it was more than that. It catered to your average readers, bibliophiles, and nerds. Aiko, could be considered all three. You could say she was quite a frequent customer.

A young man in his late twenties smiled at the girl, laughing.

"Not today kiddo, but I pre-ordered some new titles for you."

The perks to being a regular.

Aiko smiled. "Hn, sweet."

Frank always knew exactly what she wanted whenever she stepped foot into the store. He was the manager, and throughout the years since the first day he had started his job there, being a college student on low funds, Aiko had been shopping there. They'd developed a good friendship throughout the years, Aiko being like a little sister to him. Even though he had graduated college a few years back, for some reason he couldn't let go of his job at the bookstore, and stayed. Of course it didn't pay as much as the many other vocations out there, but he had fun doing what he loved everyday, and that's all that mattered.

"You here with Itachi? Haven't seen his stoic face in a while." Frank questioned Aiko, sorting through the various items that had been strewn about on the counter as customers passed by. He kind of missed the older Uchiha. They always had great conversations about new books and current events.

Aiko shrugged. "Unfortunately...no. But, I'm here with a few...acquaintances."

Frank looked over his shoulder to meet Aiko's gaze with an amused smile.

"I noticed. They seem like an interesting bunch." He referred to Kankuro and Temari. "Sure they can manage without you?"

"Yeah," Aiko looked over her shoulder," I kind of slipped away."

"Ah, I get ya."

"hn..."

"You know , I wasn't aware you were friends with Kazekage-sama. Met him at a convention a few months back. Doesn't seem like he's the socializing type."

Aiko blanched.

"I still have no idea what that means..."

Frank's brow's knitted in confusion. He thought that she'd already been aware.

"It's a rank from the game...you know..Kyuubi?"

"Not ringing a bell."

He blinked a few times, taking in the new information. Frank couldn't believe that his younger friend didn't know anything about the most popular game out there. she didn't even know how important her auburn haired friend, Gaara's rank was. If Izumo and Kotetsu were here right now, they'd probably go into fan boy mode.

"Seems like a have a lot more to teach you..." Frank said nodding.

"Hn..."

..

"So, who's on the author's block this month?" Aiko questioned, trying to read the sign behind her older male friend. Every month the store hosted an event to promote local authors by having them set up a booth for book signings or to advertise the release of a new novel coming out. There always was a variety of genres and mediums from graphic novelists, children's book authors, famous novelists, people trying to sell a biography, and your occasional poet.

Frank sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about this month's author.

"Er...he's kind of famous...just released the next volume in his series..."

Aiko's eyes lit up. "What? I thought you said you didn't have anything new?!"

"Kid, it's not..uh..exactly your genre" Frank turned around awkwardly trying to get his message across.

"Eh, I like to try out new things."

...

"No, trust me."

"Hn. Whatever you say." Aiko trailed off, ignoring the mans advice. She never really listened to Franks suggestions when it mattered.

Frank sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to listen to him. He stopped to place a hand on top of Aiko's head.

"Do whatever you want kid, but don't have Itachi or Sasuke coming after my balls because I corrupted your mind or something." He solemnly spoke.

Aiko laughed, removing Frank's hand from the top of her head."Yeah, whatever you say. And stop calling me kid."

Frank shook his head. "I'm more than ten years older than you. So you," He pointed at the girl, "Are a kid."

"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand flippantly turning around in search of the author's block booth.

...

Minutes later, Aiko found herself staring at the variation of a familiar sight. Same table, same position, however not the same author, nor title. The first thing Aiko noticed was that the author seemed to be no where in sight. Although this was a tad disappointing, Aiko also felt that it was going to make this less awkward for her. As much as she loved meeting authors of books it was very uncomfortable trying to read a persons work when they were sitting five feet away from you, staring, wondering what you thought about their writing. You always felt obligated to give a positive review to the author, seeing the amount of work they put into it.

Aiko sucked at compliments

Little did she know the author was incognito, trying to flirt with some women at the food court.

She picked up a novel to her right, examining the cover, attempting to make an assumption about what its contents held. Thinking back to Frank's words, Aiko scoffed. what did he think she was, some sort of immature brat who couldn't handle some adult themes? It couldn't be that bad...

_Icha Icha __Paradise_ Aiko read. That certainly was an interesting title.

She decided to ignore that fact.

Looking back to the table Aiko made yet another discovery. It seemed that the whole hype surrounding this series is that it had been re-released in a graphic novel format. Apparently the book had sold over 500,000 copies, making it the number one title in it's genre, whatever that was.

Putting down the first novel of the series, Aiko decided to flip through the graphic novel instead, thinking that she would get a better, more clear idea what the story was about straight away. The cover had a warning for graphic content, so Aiko pondered if it were a very gruesome series, with adventure of some sort. Maybe it had some suggestive themes and explicit language?

Aiko was wrong.

Upon opening the book to a random page, the girls apathetic expression quickly turned to shock, as a morbid blush stained her cheeks. This was not what she had expected whatsoever. Aiko dropped the book in shock and stood frozen for a few seconds, her mind processing the images her eyes had just seen.

She definitely needed some mind bleach to wipe away those images now burned into her corneas.

...

"Aiko-san..?" Gaara addressed the frozen girl, waving a hand in front of her face. She did not stir.

Confused at the girls odd behavior, Gaara turned to look at the booth and read the title. His eyes shone in recognition at the authors name, now knowing why the older man was referred to as _Pervy Sage. _Quickly he realized.. if Jiraiya was somewhere around here that meant...

Gaara didn't have enough time to finish his thought when a loud booming voice sounded behind him.

"SASSSUUUKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" A blond, reckless boy yelled from behind, tackling Aiko to the ground.

Aiko was quickly snapped out of her reverie when she felt the impact of hitting the carpeted floor, which left her breathless for a few seconds. This, was unexpected.

Above her, Aiko could distinguish the confused expression of a teenage boy with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes. He had three whisker marks on each side of his face, and a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. He furrowed his brows, now assessing the situation he had gotten himself into.

Wait... Sasuke?! Aiko thought alarmingly. What was that about?

"..Hn...?!"

"You're not Sasuke..dattebayo."

Naruto Uzumaki had just came to the conclusion that the individual he had glomped was not in fact his raven haired best friend...but a raven haired girl instead. This..had just gotten awkward. Naruto just noticing how he was practically hovering over the girl, turned pale as a sheet, recalling all of the perverted things Jiraiya had ever told him.

"Uh...can you get off me.." Aiko said calmly, staring at the strange boy.

"G-G-gomen." Naruto stammered, jumping off Aiko quickly, a sheepish embarrassed smile on his face.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

"Woah! Icha Icha Paradise was turned into a graphic novel?!" Kankuro screamed, grabbing the fallen book from where Aiko was standing. Temari promptly snatched the explicit material out of her brother's hands, muttering about his disgraceful behavior.

"I still can't believe you thought Aiko-chan was a boy." Temari said to Naruto, placing the book back to its rightful place.

Naruto's face flushed red in embarrassment remembering his blunder in judgment a few minutes ago. He crossed his arms and pouted, much like a child, and looked away from the blonde. In his defense Aiko did resemble a certain gloomy Uchiha..

If Sasuke had longer hair, was shorter, and was of course..female.

So maybe Naruto had messed up.

"Shut up Barbie..." Naruto yelled, folding his arms, looking at the ceiling.

"BURN!" Kankuro interjected from the sidelines.

Aiko watched both individuals still in slight shock over the contents of _Icha Icha Paradise_, and the revelation that this was the Naruto she'd heard so much about all of these years. She remembered all of the moments when she heard about the spastic blond and his endeavors, usually pulling Sasuke into crazy situations with him. Sasuke would always refer to his friend as "dobe" and Aiko always wondered who Naruto was. Now that she'd met him herself, she wondered how Sasuke had ever gotten along with such a...a complete idiot!

Temari flicked her brother in the forehead before directing her attention to Konoha's biggest idiot.

"Barbie you say...?" Temari murmured menacingly. She tossed a hand over her shoulder, waving it at Naruto. "Whatever you say fish cake."

Naruto attempted to be intimidating and shot a glare in Temari's direction but Immediately shrank back when Temari smiled sadistically at him.

"Save me Gaara!" He exclaimed, running behind the boy, his hands on Gaara's shoulders. Him and Temari had this ongoing rivalry ever since Naruto had met the youngest Suna sibling. I guess it didn't help that upon Naruto's first day visiting their home, he'd taken on of Temari's bras and tied it around his head as a headband. Their hostility had gone on for years.

Gaara smiled in spite of the chaos that ensued. He was content that he could meet with his friend under such, boring circumstances.

"errr...hn.." Aiko coughed, now drawing all attention towards herself. She was confused and a bit uncomfortable seeing as how everybody in the group knew each other and well...she didn't know squat.

Naruto quickly forgot his fear and his eyes sparkled with the prospect of making yet another friend. Any person who knew Gaara was alright with him.

Then again, he was quite the charismatic social fellow.

"Naruto Uzumaki at your service!" He shouted at Aiko, a wide smile perched on his lips.

"...Hi..." Aiko said, not really enthused after being tackled to the ground.

Naruto scrutinized the girl I front of him, finding something odd about how she conducted herself, and the aura she emitted.

"You know you remind me of somebody..." He said, a hand on his chin in a thinking position.

Aiko grimaced...she got that a lot, and she didn't find it to be a compliment whatsoever. As much as she loved Sasuke, she was her own person, a very different person, and being referred to acting the same as him, got on her nerves.

"..Hn.."

Naruto's face lit up.

"And there it is again! For some reason that's really familiar dattebayo!"

_Damn that stupid phrase_.. Aiko bitterly thought. She gritted out the her next words in displeasure.

"Could it be Sasuke..." She monotonously stated.

Naruto nodded his head in affirmation, staring at Aiko with a contorted expression.

"Are you a psychic?" He started, not knowing how close of a relationship Aiko had with his raven haired male Uchiha comrade. For all he knew, Aiko was a random person who just happened to know who his friend was.

"no..."

"Fangirl..?" Naruto inquired.

Aiko wore a horrified look. "HELL NO."

Naruto sighed in relief.

"Whew, I was worried there for a second." He shuddered thinking about the many times Sasuke's personal stalkers had come to him in order to get close to the boy. Sometimes they were straight forward and asked Naruto to retrieve...items for them. He didn't even want to remember t he last time he declined stealing Sasuke's underwear for a crazy fan. It was not pretty. He made a mental note never to bring up Sasuke around Karin again. If anything her obsession rivaled every single crazy fan he had seen in elementary school...and that was saying a lot.

"So...how do you all know each other..." Aiko interject, gesturing towards Temari, Kankruo, Gaara and Naruto. She wanted to cut off Naruto's train of thought before he started asking her questions on how she knew Sasuke. She didn't really want to talk about her family at the moment.

It worked.

"It's a long story dattebayo?" Naruto said scratching the back of his neck, his eyes meeting Gaara's.

"..I guess.." Gaara stated, thinking back to the past.

Naruto put his hands on his hips and smiled at Aiko again.

"Ne..To think it all started out with a game..."

"..Kyuubi...?" Aiko tried, hearing a lot about the specific game in the time she had been in the mall.

"Yeah! How did you know?!" He exclaimed.

"Magic."

"Wow really?!" Naruto looked excited at Aiko's statement.

"No."

"Awh." His shoulders sagged disappointed.

...

"So what does Kyuubi have to do with how you met?" Aiko asked, wondering how everything correlated.

"Dear god not this story again." Teamri groaned, having heard the blonde recite the story countless times.

Naruto ignored Temari again, and continued speaking optimistically, talking about how he and Gaara had met. It brought him a lot of nostalgia to even think about it but the event was one to remember. Gaara was one of his first friends after all, besides Sasuke.

"When Gaara and I were younger we met in preschool." He smirked, laughing. "Those were the fun days..."

Kankuro and Temari both frowned, thinking about how life was years ago. "Those were not fun." They said in unison.

Lets just say that as a child, Naruto caused many headaches for the older Suna Siblings. Kankuro recalled the time when Naruto had vandalized all of his school pictures, drawing mustaches and cat ears on his face, while Temari remember when Naruto had replaced her bottle of shampoo with red hair dye. sure, the boy had made their lives very interesting as children, but Temari and Kankuro were positive they'd have paranoia and trust issues after dealing with the prankster for that extended period of time. They'd grown into quite the cynics.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto disregarded their statements, shrugging. "We both played the Kyuubi card game at the time so it kind of just happened!"

Temari thought back to how Gaara and Naruto use to interact, as she was the one to hear Naruto's outbursts about his new card attack since her room was right next to Gaara's at the time. "Yeah I remember, you guys with those weird plush toys.."

"It was the limited edition Kurama nine tailed beasts plush toy thank you very much!" Naruto defended.

"I bet you still have it..." Kankuro murmured under his breath, shooting a jab at the blond.

"Yeah! And Gaara still has Shukaku too! you're just mad because you have those creepy dolls to play with while I have a badass nine tailed beast!"

Kankuro's eye twitched in annoyance at hearing Naruto call his creations dolls. He could tolerate people caliing him a cat sometimes... but to call his creations dolls? That was crossing the line. Nobody respected his art.

"They aren't dolls" He gritted out..."...they're puppets."

Aiko stared at Kankuro, somewhat miffed at his words. She imagined the boy playing with his...puppets, laughing manically in the dark like a mad scientist.

"You have a room full of puppets...?" She slowly questioned.

Kankruo folded his arms, and shot a glance in her direction. "It's a hobby." He shifted his gaze towards the Uzumaki. "And Naruto, you're still a genin while I'm a jonin, so I outrank you."

Naruto blew a fuse.

"I WILL BECOME HOKAGE SOMEDAY!" He shouted at the highest decibel he could reach. All of the teens clasped hands ove their ears, except for Gaara who had gotten use to Narut's manner of speaking. Aiko now was severely contemplating if this was the true Naruto that Sasuke was friends with. He seemed fun but...they were polar opposites.

Naruto turned towards Gaara who had been spectating the whole ordeal, as he always did in social situations. Holding his hand out in a high five, Naruto exclaimed.

"GAARA! JINCHURIKI UNITE!"

"What's that about...?" Aiko whispered to Temari who just had moved to stand beside her.

"It's the name of their fandom..." She said sweat dropping.

"Oh."

Gaara stood unblinking at the hand raised in front of him, a neutral expression on his face. He made no attempts to move in the slightest, while Naruto's hand stayed suspended midair.

It was quiet for a few tense seconds.

...Naruto stared at Gaara

...Gaara stared at Naruto.

...Aiko, Temari, and Kankuro watched in amusement,

"Don't leave me hanging..." Naruto whined, pushing his outstretched hand closer to his friend.

Gaara did not stir.

Naruto, awkwardly coughed waiting for his friend to take action.

Not one movement.

"Well this is awkward.." Naruto said, begrudgingly tapping his own hand, giving himself a high-five.

* * *

**_~oOo~_**

* * *

**End of Chapter 5...**

**FINALLY STUFF IS HAPPENINGGGGGGG. I assure you, after this chapter, there will be more story development I promise. **

**If Frank were real, he'd be a pretty rad dude.**

**Aiko will eventually play Kyuubi...hehehehe...you'll see. **

**Thank you to all that followed, and favorite this story in the past week! I highly appreciate it!**

_**Review?**_

_**~dreamwithinadream262**_


End file.
